DDT ban to be lifted

This article originally published in The Los Angeles Times captured my attention recently:

European Union officials recently warned Uganda that it would be "taking a risk" if it reintroduced DDT.

In Kenya, flower growers say Western supermarkets are wary of the chemical, putting the nation's $US400 million ($A528 million) horticulture industry at risk. Kenya is the top supplier of fresh-cut flowers to the EU.

But African officials complain of hypocrisy on the part of Westerners, who used DDT to eradicate their own malaria problems decades ago and now push Africa to rely on harder-to-implement methods such as mosquito nets.

"The human cost of the Western policies is very high," said economist James Shikwat, director of the Inter Region Economic Network in Nairobi.

I wonder what John Quiggin would say about this?